To prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers can do the following things:
- Keep the head of the patient’s bed raised between 30 and 45 degrees unless other medical conditions do not allow this to occur.
- Check the patient’s ability to breathe on his or her own every day so that the patient can be taken off of the ventilator as soon as possible.
- Clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub before and after touching the patient or the ventilator.
- Clean the inside of the patient’s mouth on a regular basis.
- Clean or replace equipment between use on different patients.